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Delhi Uber driver found guilty of raping passenger

Uber driver could face life in prison for raping passenger in Indian capital last year, as sentencing is set for Friday.

20 Oct 2015 11:32 GMT

The Delhi government banned all operations by Uber in the city after the rape [File - EPA]

An Indian court has convicted an Uber driver of raping a young female passenger in the capital last year, his lawyer and the public prosecutor said.

The high profile case sparked fresh safety fears in a city plagued by sexual violence.

The Delhi court found Shiv Kumar Yadav guilty on Tuesday of raping the 25-year-old finance executive as she returned home from dinner with friends.

"The sentence should be handed out as per the crime he has committed," Vasundhara Pathak Masoodi, a Supreme Court lawyer, told Al Jazeera.

"It is high time that proper guidelines and laws should be implemented for women to move around the city freely, even after sunset," Masoodi added.

Yadav will be sentenced on Friday after being convicted on four charges - rape, abduction, intimidation and causing harm.

"[The] court has convicted him for all the sections for which he was charged," defence lawyer Dharmender Kumar Mishra told reporters outside the court.

Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of All India Progressive Women Association praised the victim for her courage to report the rape.

"Most rapes are gone unreported. She [the victim] was courageous enough to come out and report the crime," Krishnan told Al Jazeera.

"Justice will be served soon." she further said.

Uber banned from Delhi

Uber was banned from operating in Delhi in the aftermath of the December 5 attack.

Yadav was tried by one of the special fast-track courts introduced in 2013 following the fatal gang rape of a student on a bus in Delhi, a crime that shocked the nation and sparked angry protests about India's treatment of women.

Uber was accused of failing to conduct adequate background checks after it emerged that Yadav had been accused of assaulting other women, although he had no previous convictions.

The California-based startup's rapid international growth has heightened tensions with rival taxi companies, which protest that Uber cars are not subject to the same regulations.

Uber set up its India operation in September 2013, and now operates in around a dozen Indian cities.